Pages

Are We Finally Closing The Gender Pay Gap*

*This is a collaborative post*

The UK has been
reported to have the fifth largest gender pay gap in Europe — with
a larger pay gap than Portugal, Slovakia and Switzerland. According
to 2017 figures, the gender pay gap between males and females in the
UK was still 20% — this meant that, by October 16th
2017, the average male had already been paid a women’s entire
year’s salary. Worryingly, the UK’s gender pay gap is worse than
the average gender pay gap across the whole of Europe.

In an attempt to gain
equality in the workplace and show transparency, by April 2018,
companies that employ 250 employees or more will have to publish
gender pay figures. The BBC is one organisation which has already had
to release the salaries of its employees who earn more than £150,000
— and an organisation that proved there clearly is a gender pay gap
in the UK. The highest paid female employee at the BBC was Claudia
Winkleman, Strictly Come Dancing host, earning £500,000. A
considerable amount. However, when you consider the highest male
earner was Chris Evans, radio DJ and ex-Top Gear presenter, earning
£2.2 million, there is a significant difference!

And it appears, a
similar pattern is apparent in other industries, too. DCS Multiserve,
specialists in industrial cleaning, outlines which industries have the worst gender pay
gaps in the UK, and compare figures with previous years to investigate if
we are making improvements to close the gap.

Which industries are the worst culprits?

The industries which
tend to have the largest gender pay gap are those which have a
workforce predominantly of one gender. Over 80% of companies are said
to pay their women employees less than their male employees. The
construction industry, in particular, is a male-dominated industry
which has led to a significant gender pay gap. The average male in
the industry earns up to 45% more than their female counterparts!
However, the same can be said for midwifery, a predominantly female
industry – female midwifes on average can earn around 62% more than
their male counterparts.

Financial managers and
directors gender pay gap also favour men, with women generally paid
up to 36.5% less than men — and the same for journalism, with a
gender pay gap of 7.2%. The same pattern is also shown for solicitors
where females earn around 14% less than men, pharmacists where
females earn around 12.6% less than men, and nurses who earn around
1.5% less than men — despite nursing being a typically female
dominant role. Whilst in some roles women are paid more, when you
look at the industry as a whole, no sector pays women more than men.

And it is not just
average salaries which appear to be higher for men — they also
receive on average 25.2% higher bonus payments, too.

With the deadline set
for companies with over 250 employees to publish their salary figures
by April this year, 527 firms have published their figures already.
EasyJet was amongst the companies with the largest gender pay gap. At
the company, women’s hourly rates are 52% lower than men’s — a
reason for this could be the male to female ratio in the higher paid
jobs compared to the lower paid jobs. Only 6% of EasyJet’s UK
pilots are female — a role which pays around £92,400 annually on
average. However, of all UK cabin crew staff, 69% are female which
pays an average annual salary of £24,800.

Are we making improvements?

Whilst the UK still has
the fifth largest gender pay gap, the Office for National Statistics
(ONS) reveals that our pay gap is at the lowest it has been since
records began. London used to have the smallest pay gap in the UK,
but whilst other regions have worked to improve their gender pay
gaps, it appears that the capital has stood still. However, over the
last two decades, the average gender pay gap in the UK has decreased
by 9.1%.

In 1997, the average
gender pay gap was 17.4% when the ONS first collected data — but
despite the progress, industry professionals believe the improvement
is too slow and that the government need to be putting pressure on
companies to close the gap sooner.

Frances O’Grady,
general secretary of TUC, commented “The full-time gender pay gap
has inched a bit smaller. But there is still a chasm between men and
women’s earnings. At this rate, it’ll take decades for women to
get paid the same as men.

“The government needs
to crank up the pressure on employers. Companies shouldn’t just be
made to publish their gender pay gaps. They should be forced to
explain how they’ll close them. And those bosses who flout the law
should be fined.”

*Contributed on behalf of DCS Multiserve. All photos sourced from Pexels.